


Guardian of Laketown

by Whedonista93



Series: Queen of Dale [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Bard the Bowman, BAMF Buffy Summers, Crossover, F/M, Mentioned Thorin's Company
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:49:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21898444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whedonista93/pseuds/Whedonista93
Summary: Buffy learns that the Master is a dick and Alfrid is creepy. She learns how much the people struggle. She learns that these people still have a lingering fear of the dragon in the mountain.
Relationships: Buffy Summers/Bard the Bowman
Series: Queen of Dale [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577443
Comments: 15
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

Buffy has been in Middle Earth for about two years when she finally settles down in Laketown. She finds a secluded, somewhat dilapidated dock with a tiny little abandoned shack and takes up fishing, just to survive. She's technically outside of Laketown, on the bank near Dale so her horses have room to run. She spends her nights exploring Laketown through the shadows. She doesn’t sleep much.

She learns that the Master is a dick and Alfrid is creepy. She learns how much the people struggle. She learns that these people still have a lingering fear of the dragon in the mountain.

She’s slipping back toward her hut just before dawn one morning when she hears a woman’s voice. “Get away from me!”

Buffy immediately follows the distressed voice and finds a pretty young woman, barely more than a kid, backed up against the side of a building by one of the Master’s soldiers. The girl looks terrified.

Buffy grabs the soldier by the collar of his shirt and spins him away from the girl, slams him into the wall has her dagger drawn from her boot and pressed to his groin before he can process what’s happened. He struggles and she pulls him forward, then slams him back again, presses the blade harder against his thigh. “Stay.” She turns to the girl. “You okay?”

The girl nods shakily, but there are tears in her eyes.

“Did he hurt you?”

The girl just freezes.

Buffy sneers at the soldier. “That’s what gets your rocks off? Attacking defenseless little girls?”

The soldier sneers back.

Buffy pushes the blade forward, hard enough to draw blood and a whimper. “I’ve got a good memory, pal. If I  _ ever _ see you near a little girl again,” she digs the blade in a little more, “I will chop this off and feed it to you. Clear?”

The soldier nods.

Buffy pulls the blade away and clocks him, watching dispassionately as he crumples to the boardwalk. She wipes her blade off on his trousers and tucks the dagger back into her boot before turning to the girl and finally noticing the bruises blooming on her wrist and the swelling, bloody lip. She holds a hand out. “Come one, kid, let’s get you cleaned up.” 

The girl grasps her hand like a lifeline and follows her meekly all the way out of the city and back to her pathetic little hut. Buffy boils enough water to clean the girl’s split lip and scraped wrist, then lathers the poultice she’d made last week over the bruised skin and binds it with clean bandages.

The girl finally speaks. “What’s that poultice made from?”

Buffy smiles. “I think you call it kingsfoil.”

“That’s a weed!” The girl protests.

Buffy shrugs. “Weed or not, it’s got some major healing properties. You okay?”

She nods. “Thank you for saving me. The Master’s soldiers…”

“Are horrible,” Buffy finishes for her.

The girl nods.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Oh! How rude of me. I’m sorry. I’m Sigrid.”

“I’m Buffy. Can I take you home?”

Sigrid’s eyes go wide. “Oh!”

“What?”

“My brother and sister. They’re bound to be awake by now. They’ll worry. I should’ve been home already. I just went to see Da off.”

Buffy stands and offers a hand. “I’ll take you.”

Sigrid takes her hand and doesn’t release it all the way to her house. “Can I offer you breakfast?”

Buffy starts to protest, but her stomach growls.

Sigrid laughs. “Come in, please. I insist. It’s the least I can do.”

The young woman tugs Buffy through the door before she can protest. A boy a bit younger than Sigrid and a young girl leap up.

The girl barrels into Sigrid. “Where were you?”

The boy’s eyes narrow at the bandage on her wrist. “What happened?”

Sigrid winces. “One of the Master’s soldiers. Miss Buffy saved me. Miss Buffy, my brother Bain and my sister Tilda. She’s joining us for breakfast.”

Bain eyes the door. Buffy grabs him by the shoulder and pushes him into a chair. “I know that look, kid. Don’t even think about it. You are no match for a trained soldier.”

“They’re not  _ that _ trained,” Bain pouts.

Buffy crosses her arms over her chest. “More trained than you.”

“I-”

“Bain!” Sigrid cuts him off. “Please,” she begs softly.

The fight drains out of the boy.

Sigrid smiles. “Thank you.”

“What’re we gonna do if the soldiers come and Da’s not home?” Tilda asks quietly, after they’ve shared a companionable meal.

“When is he supposed to be back?” Buffy asks.

Sigrid fidgets nervously. “Not until tomorrow afternoon at least, likely much later.”

“I’ll check in on you guys,” Buffy promises.

“You could just stay,” Sigrid blurts, then blushes. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”

Something in Buffy’s chest catches. “Sure. If you want me to.”

“Please?”


	2. Chapter 2

Bard is silently cursing Alfrid in every manner he can think of when he finally stumbles through his door, far later than he’d intended. He would have been home by supper if not for the little rat’s meddling. He stops short at the sight of a petite blonde curled up in his daughters’ bed with Tilda curled into her side. Emerald eyes open and latch onto his, as if she felt his eyes on her. She carefully extricates herself from the little girl and gently covers her back up before stepping down and joining Bard near the door.

She hugs her arms around her middle. “Sorry to intrude.”

He recognizes her, now that she's standing. He seen her about town on occasion, though he knows she lives on her own near the ruins of Dale. Everyone agrees she's odd, but kind. Bard shakes his head. “I have no doubt you were invited and are welcome, my lady. My children are good judges of character, and I have never heard any but Alfrid speak a word against you."

The woman sneers. "I would call him a snake, but I think I like snakes better."

Bard grins. "We are of the same mind, then, my lady."

"Buffy."

"I beg your pardon?"

She smiles. "My name. It's Buffy. I'm not a lady in any realm." She holds a hand out. 

Bard takes it, surprised by the callouses he feels - every woman in this town works with her hands, but this woman… he should wager she can wield a sword well, if her callouses are anything to go by. "Bard."

After the attack on Sigrid, Buffy establishes a new routine. When Bard is out on the barge, Buffy stays with the kids, or brings them out to her little farm. 

Tilda tugs on her hand. "Are those horses?"

Buffy smiles. "Would you like to meet them?"

Tilda nods excitedly. Bain and Sigrid follow, both trying and failing to tamp down their own excitement.

Her sweet, smoke colored mare trots over to them excitedly. Buffy laughs, delighted as always at her sweet nature. "This is Sunny."

Tilda's nose crumples adorably. "But she looks like a storm."

Buffy grins. "Yeah, but her personality is all sunshine."

She points to the roan on the other side of the pasture. "And that asshole over there is Soldier. Now where is…" Buffy barely spots the tiny hooves on Soldier's other side. She grins and whistles sharply. Soldier trots over obediently, a little black colt at his heels.

Tilda squeals in excitement and the colt gallops right to her. 

Buffy smiles. "I haven't named him yet. Would you like to?"

When Bard is home… well, they all end up in the same place more often than not, anyway. Bard makes Bain a bow and she teaches him to hunt and then how to barter with the meat and hides. She gets good at bartering - for food and tools and clothes and fabric.

Sigrid tries teaching her sewing. The lessons last less than a week before she gives up and just starts taking the material Buffy buys and making the older woman’s clothes for her. She teaches all of the children how to use a dagger, where to hit to make it hurt - to give themselves time to run away. She teaches them how to throw a punch, how to use their smaller statures to their advantage. She starts teaching Bain how to use a sword.

They go on, living their lives together but not, and ignoring the town’s gossip, for almost two years before anything else notable happens.


	3. Chapter 3

Sigrid leans over the little half wall by the stairs. “Da, why are their dwarves climbing out of our toilet?” 

Tilda perks up. “Will they bring us luck?”

Buffy snorts. “Wouldn’t count on it.”

One of the older dwarves eyes Buffy speculatively. “Thought you said your wife  _ was _ lovely, bargeman. Unless these old eyes are worse off than I thought, I’d wager she still is.”

Buffy’s pretty sure she’s the only one who sees Bard roll his eyes. “Buffy is indeed lovely, master dwarf, but she’s not my wife.”

“And whose fault is that?” Sigrid mutters, likely thinking no one can hear her. Buffy bites back a chuckle.

Buffy listens intently as they speak of the dragon attack.

“You speak as if you were there,” Bard observes, almost accusing.

She continues to listen to their whispers as Bard goes to retrieve the makeshift weapons he's amassed.

Buffy follows when Bard steps out onto the landing.

Bard squeezes his eyes shut. “Something… there’s something I can’t remember. Thorin… I know that name.”

“They were talking about the mountain,” Buffy offers.

His eyes snap open, lit with fire. “Don’t let them leave.”

Bard unearths the tapestry as the townspeople’s voices reach him.

“It’s the prophecy.”

“What prophecy?”

“The prophecy of Durin’s folk.”

Bard wracks his brain. An old song forms on this tongue. “The lord of silver fountains,” he breathes, “the king of carven stone, the king beneath the mountain shall come into his own. And the bell shall ring in gladness at the mountain king’s return, but all shall fail in sadness, and the lake will shine...and burn.” 

He runs as fast as he can back home only to find the dwarves gone. He pulls Buffy outside and shares the words he remembered.

Buffy curses. “I hate prophecies. I’m going after them.”

“To the mountain?!”

She rolls her eyes. “They’ll go for the armory first.”

Buffy follows the dwarves, constantly wincing at their lack of subtlety. She doesn’t stop them from breaking into the armory, thinking gleefully of the Master’s face when he finds he’s been robbed. Then she hears the crash.

The dwarves have a lot of pretty words, but she knows better than to trust them. It’s Bard’s voice that holds her faith. “Death! That is what you will bring upon us! Dragon fire and ruin. If you waken that beast, it will destroy us all.”

And then the dwarf has more pretty words.

Buffy’s heart sinks as Bard tries, and fails, to get the people to see reason. She can sense his mounting frustration. It takes nearly all her self control not to draw her bow on the Master when he tries to turn Bard’s lineage against him.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, they’re discussing taking the children away from Laketown when dwarves show up at their door once again.

“No,” Bard denies them entry. “I’m done with dwarves. Go away.”

“No! No! No!” One of the dwarves shoves into the doorway. “Please! No one will help us. Kili’s sick. He’s very sick.”

“Bard,” Buffy calls softly.

Bard huffs a breath and nods. “Fine, bring him in.”

Buffy has the dwarves get Kili up onto the table and curses vehemently enough to make Sigrid blush when she unwraps the dwarve’s leg. “Sigrid, go find me as much kingsfoil as you can get your hands on. Now!”

Sigrid bolts out the door and comes back ten minutes later with an armful.

Buffy nods approvingly from where she’s scrubbing the wound out as best she can. “Start grinding it into a paste. And throw some in the kettle.”

Sigrid does as she’s commanded.

Buffy slops the paste into and onto the wound as fast as she can, then wraps it tightly and forces Kili to sit up enough to pour as much as the tea down his throat as she can. When she’s done, she slumps into the nearest chair, brow furrowed.

The older dwarf nods at her approvingly. “How’d ya know to use kingsfoil, lass? Most humans think it a weed.”

Buff smirks. “I’m not entirely human.”

The dwarf hums thoughtfully, but doesn’t push the subject. It’s not long before a rumbling comes from the mountain. She exchanges a look with Bard - too late to go now.

Her heart breaks when Tilda looks up at Bard, petrified. “Are we going to die, Da?”

“No, darling,” Bard reassures.

“The dragon,” she argues. “It’s going to kill us.”

Bard reaches above the table and pulls down the arrow Buffy had spotted on her second visit to the house, so long ago. “Not if I kill it first.”

Bain’s eyes go wide. “Is that a black arrow?!”

“Aye.”

“I’m still scared,” Tilda whimpers.

Buffy crouches in front of her. “Have I ever told you what I did, where I come from?”

Tilda shakes her head.

Buffy smiles sharply. “I killed monsters. It’s what I was born to do. There’s a prophecy and everything.”

Tilda smiles back shakily.

Buffy looks up at Bard. “Go. Get to the windlance before the dragon gets to us.”

Bard nods.

Buffy stands and catches his elbow. Before she can overthink it, she goes up on her toes and kisses him. “Make it count.”

Bard brushes his hand over her cheek once, then turns and goes.

Only a few minutes pass before Buffy’s head snaps toward the door. “Something’s coming.”

She goes to Bard’s bed and overturns the mattress, pulls a sword, an axe, and a bow from their hiding places.

Fili gapes. “You had  _ those _ and you gave us fish hooks?”

Buffy smirks. “Trust me, you’re gonna be glad I still have them.”

As if on queue, an orc smashes through the ceiling.

Buffy doesn’t think. Xander used to joke she goes into Battle Mode. Buffy lets that old feeling, the blood lust of the Slayer, settle into her bones.

Orcs flood their little home. She whirls, slashes, skewers. A tall redhead appears. Buffy slides between her and the children, shoves a dagger in an Orc’s eyes. The redhead slits the throat of another Orc. Then there’s a man, tall and blond, and Buffy stops worrying about them. 

She and the strangers are a seamless team, killing and fighting as if they have known each other all their lives.

When it’s over, Bain leans over the upturned table. “You killed them all!”

The blond elf shakes his head. “There are others. Tauriel. Come!”

The redhead looks torn.

“We’re losing him.”

Buffy turns a worried gaze to Kili, black ichor dripping from her sword and axe.

Tauriel turns to leave and spots the kingsfoil on the counter. “Athelas… I’m going to save him.”

Watching the elf work, Buffy is vaguely reminded of Willow, and a bittersweet pang runs through her.

She almost laughs at Kili’s feverish, lovesick rambling, but she bites her tongue because it clearly gets to Tauriel. She looks out the window, hoping Bard hasn’t run into trouble, and fighting the instinct to go check on him. Her priority has to be the children.

The bells toll. She makes sure her sword and axe are secure and swings her jacket off its hook by the door and onto her shoulders. She gets the children and dwarves on the boat, then shoves away from the boardwalk.

When the Master’s boats almost capsizes them, Buffy decides he’s not getting out of this alive, human or not. A moment after she has the thought, a makeshift rope finds its way around the fat old bastards neck, and she watches Bard leap across the roof of the jail toward the armory.

“When the hell did he get arrested?” She can’t help but voicing the thought.

Bain shrugs.

Buffy turns her eyes back to the dragon. When the bell stops tolling, she looks up and sees Bard on the bell tower, firing arrow after useless arrow. Bain leaps from the boat before Buffy can stop him, so she goes after him.

Her heart soars with pride when she sees him grab the black arrow, then plummets when the dragon flies straight at the bell tower. Bain drops the arrow.

It hurtles down and she leaps to catch it. She doesn’t breathe again until Bard pulls Bain back to relative safety, then she whistles loud enough to catch Bard’s attention before she throws the arrow straight up. He reaches out and plucks it out of the air. She stops breathing again when Smaug lands and faces Bard directly.

“Who are you that you would stand against me?” The beast growls.

Bard reaches for his bow, only to lift it broken.

“Now that is a pity,” the dragon’s voice rumbles like thunder. “What will you do now, bowman? You are forsaken. No help will come.”

Buffy’s blood simmers, but she knows climbing the tower is too risky.

“Is that your child?” The dragon moves closer. “You cannot save him from the fire. He will burn.”

Buffy bites her lip until it bleeds as Bard drives the ends of the broken bow into the sides of the tower and pulls Bain to his feet, knocking the arrow over his son’s shoulder.

“Tell me, wretch, how now shall you challenge me? You have nothing left but your death.”

Despite the nearness of the dragon, Buffy can’t take her eyes off Bard. Something in his expression shifts, and Buffy can’t stifle the hope that springs in her chest. Buffy whoops when his arrow hits its mark, then screams when the tower falls. She runs, following its trajectory, and finally breathes again when Bard and Bain surface from the lake. She hauls them out of the water and wraps her arms around them until they complain they can’t breathe.

“The girls?” Bard asks as soon as she releases them.

She nods across the lake. “They got out.”

“Let’s go find them.”

They find a mostly intact boat and make their way directly to Buffy's hut. Sigrid and Tilda are waiting anxiously in the doorway they reach the shore.

Tilda barrels into their legs. "Mum, Da! You're alright!!!"

Buffy freezes, arms halfway around the girl's shoulders, and gapes down at her. 

Tilda looks up, wide eyed and scared, as soon as it’s out of her mouth. “Is that okay? I didn’t mean… um.”

Bard rests a reassuring hand on her head. “It’s alright, darling.”

Buffy shoots him a panicked look.

He bends his head to her ear. “She was but a babe, when her mother passed. You’re all she’s known for years now, love.”

Buffy blinks back the tears threatening to spill over and hugs Tilda close.

She takes Bain with her to the pasture, grateful to find the horses unharmed, if a bit spooked. By the time they have all three horses saddled, the dwarves are pushing the boat back into the water.

Buffy leaves them to their devices and goes inside to change. The dragon may be gone, but Bard's people are displaced, and besides that, Buffy feels like something else is coming, and she learned long ago to trust her instincts. She pulls out heavy leather breeches and a light linen shirt with sleeves that end above the elbow before pulling out her armor and sturdiest boots. Her armor is less armor and more protective leather pads and bracers - sacrificing her mobility to heavy, bulky armor would be sacrificing her life. She tucks sheathed daggers into her boots and waist band, ties her favorite sword to her waist and straps an axe to her back. Almost as an afterthought, she grabs a quiver and fills it with the iron wrought arrows that still make a her cringe to think too hard about.

Tauriel raises an eyebrow when she steps back outside. "Are you expecting a fight, my lady?"

Buffy raises an eyebrow back. "The dragon guarding the richest treasure trove in the world was just killed, and an entire town was displaced. You think the dwarves sitting in that mountain are going to share the goods?"

Fili storms up the bank. "You question our honor?!"

Buffy rolls her eyes. "You're not in the mountain. And greed does funny things, kid." She reaches out and grabs Bard's arm and he passes. "Grab a sword, please."

He puts a hand over hers and squeezes, then nods. "We should go soon, make it to the others by daybreak."


	5. Chapter 5

They get to the survivors, then they get the survivors to the ruins of Dale, find a safe place for the kids to bed down, then find a quiet roof to observe from. 

Buffy breaks the comfortable silence between them. “They’re going to ask you to be king.”

Bard sighs. “I know.”

“What will you say?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“There’s always a choice. You already know yours, though. You love these people.”

Bard closes his eyes. “I do. I worry for my children growing up under such pressure.”

Buffy leans her head back against the wall behind her. “There are worse things than growing up under pressure.”

“You speak from experience.”

Buffy bites her lip, debates how much to say. “Where I’m from… I’m not normal. I doubt I’m normal here either. But where I’m from, from the time I was fifteen, I carried the weight of my whole world on my shoulders. My support system was hit and miss. With you at their back… I’m pretty sure yours can bear the weight of a kingdom.”

“Us,” Bard says quietly.

“Hmm?”

“You said with me at their back. But it’s really with  _ us _ at their back, isn’t it?”

Buffy smiles softly and nods.

Buffy continues acting as guardian over Bard's children while he plays peacekeeper among the townspeople and negotiates with elves and dwarves.

He comes back late, very late, one night.

“Everything okay?” Buffy asks quietly, mindful of the children asleep just through the open doorway.

Bard takes her hand leads her to the roof. When they get there, he pulls a wad of cloth out of his jacket and unwraps it, revealing a glowing, shimmering stone.

Buffy reaches for it automatically before yanking her hand back.

Bard chuckles. “Go ahead.”

She picks it up. “There’s power in this thing.”

“The dwarves call it the Arkenstone - the heart of the mountain. The king’s jewel.”

Buffy rolls it in her hands. “You’re gonna use it to negotiate with Thorin.”

“I don’t see much choice. I have to see to my people. I had hoped he would be more reasonable.”

Buffy shrugs.

"You knew he wouldn't be."

"Of their whole party, he's probably the least reasonable."

Bard sighs.

Buffy reaches over and lays a hand over his as her free hand strays to the pendant around her neck. "Hey, it'll work out. Pretty sure I have enough money to single handedly rebuild Dale if the dwarves won't play nice."

Bard looks at her strangely. "You would do that for these people who have always treated you an outcast?"

Buffy squeezes his hand. "I would do that for you."

Bard's free hand drifts up to brush over her fingers where they're clasped loosely over her necklace. "I've never asked why you wear Yavanna's sigil, when you were so clearly made for war."

Buffy snorts.

Bard shakes his head. "I mean no offense."

"And I take no offense. I wear her sigil because I wouldn't be here without her."

Bard pulls her hand away and kisses her knuckles. "Then I thank her for you." He looks out over the city.

Buffy grins. "I can practically see something dancing on your tongue. Whatever it is, say it."

Bard takes a breath and meets her eyes. "If the people do ask me to be king, be my queen."

Buffy raises an eyebrow. "Was that a question?"

Bard's lips curl wryly. "More a plea."

"Why me? Any woman would have you."

"I do not want any woman who would have me only for the crown they seek to place upon my head. I would have the woman who makes my children smile, who defends my daughters when I cannot and teaches them to defend themselves, who teaches my son to hunt. I would have the woman who rides like the Rohirrim and can swing a sword better than I ever hope to. I would have the woman who will not hold her tongue, who doesn't quite fit in with those around her, who makes me laugh. I would have you."

Buffy blinks. "I won't stop fighting 'cause someone puts a crown on my head," she warns. 

Bard smiles. "I shall make you captain of the guard."

Buffy draws a shaky breath. "I would've settled for 'I love you.'"

"I love you."


End file.
